1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vehicle sun visor assembly having moveable coverage.
2. Related Art
It is known to provide a sun visor in vehicles that is capable of rotating between up and down positions. Visors typically are mounted to a vehicle by an elbow mounting bracket which couples one end of a visor pivot rod to the vehicle. Visors include a visor body, with the other end of the visor pivot rod extending into the visor body. A torque fitting extends between the visor body and the visor pivot rod to allow the visor to rotate on the visor pivot rod from a stored position adjacent the vehicle headliner to various adjusted lowered on use positions. The elbow bracket allows the visor to be pivoted to a side window position for blocking incoming sunlight from the side of the vehicle. A visor of this type can block glare coming through the driver's side window and a small portion of the front window, but not from all directions in the driver's vision.
To improve coverage, visors that slide along the pivot rod, called slide-on-rod (“SOR”) visors, have been proposed. Current SOR visors use a closed, D-shaped channel or 2-piece channels into which the visor pivot rod, a carrier (e.g., a plastic guide), and detent spring are inserted and along which the visor pivot rod slides. The D-shaped channel is manufactured as an extruded aluminum component, an expensive process. The “D” shape of the channel, and stiff wall section, makes it difficult to obtain optimal resistance to movement, which is either too high or too low due to the tolerances required. A loose fit of the channel over the carrier leads to undesirable noise from vehicle-induced vibrations in the visor. The loose fit can also fail to provide sufficient resistance to movements, and thus fail to hold the visor in place.